


Turtleneck

by tvrres



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Angst, Arizona Robbins - Freeform, Callie Torres - Freeform, F/F, Fluff, OC, Original Character(s), Slow Burn, arizona is worried, arizona misses callie, domestic abuse, greys anatomy - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-19
Updated: 2021-03-20
Packaged: 2021-03-28 04:14:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30133845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvrres/pseuds/tvrres
Summary: They’re broken.They’re over.They’re done.But when Callie starts coming to work with bruises on her neck, Arizona has to come to terms with the fact that she still cares.
Relationships: Arizona Robbins/Callie Torres, Callie Torres/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

Arizona didn’t care about Calliope Torres. She didn’t want to know what Calliope Torres was up to nowadays. She didn’t need to hear about that groundbreaking surgery she performed and she most definitely didn’t want to know about Calliope’s new girlfriend. 

_But_... Something off about her ex-wife's new girlfriend

No. She didn’t give a damn about Callie any more. So why should she give a damn if Calliope was moving on? 

So she continued with her work. Immersing herself in it in fact. She tried to stop sneaking peeks at Callie from across the OR. Tried to contain the butterflies that would flutter about her stomach when she would see that Torres and her had a surgery together. She tried to ignore that dark emitting feeling she would get whenever she would see Callie with that woman, that woman that replaced Arizona, that stood next to Callies side. 

It was a quiet day in Grey Sloan Memorial. Arizona was charting, leaned over a counter. She was quietly bickering with Karev _(per usual)_. 

She slipped into view, just in the peripheral of Arizona's eye line. She was tucked closely into her jacket, nearly cowering. But just as quickly as she had appeared she was gone again. _Calliope._

Arizona was called down to the pit. She nearly smiled, seeing Callie already prepping the patient in Trauma Room 03. She felt sticky sweet and content just knowing her and Callie would be working on this patient together. 

But the sticky sweet feeling melted away, seeing Callie splinting the little tiny human’s leg, wearing a turtleneck beneath her scrubs. 

Anyone else wouldn’t question it. But Arizona did. It was seventy degrees (Fahrenheit) outside and Callie was heat sensitive but barely anyone knew that. Anyone but Arizona who had fought over blankets at night with Callie. 

Callie rarely wore layers beneath her scrubs, especially in late spring. Let alone a turtleneck. 

No. Something was going on. 

“Robbins, could you check her stats?” Callie called once she noticed Arizona standing in the doorway. What she didn’t notice was the fact that Arizona was analyzing her clothing choice. 

“A little warm for a turtleneck wouldn’t you say?” Arizona tried to start up small talk, she tried to sound casual, maybe she had come off that way but not to Callie. She was going to have to come up with some form of excuse. 

“Hm? Oh yeah my dad sent me it around Christmas but shipping took a while so it just got here and I wanted to try it on.” Callie tried to keep her eyes on the patient's splint, she tried to keep her eyes from flickering up to Arizonas. 

“I like it! It’s going to get warmer a bit later today and I know how easily you get warm, just so you know. I doubt that turtleneck will last long with the temperature out.” Arizona continued to try to small talk while listening to her patient's pulse. 

“Mhm…” 

Arizona watched from a far as Callie walked hand in hand with her girlfriend, Mara. 

Something about the way Callie seemed timid around Mara. Something about the way she dismissed the ‘turtleneck topic’ earlier in The Pit. Something about the way she came in late to work, hidden beneath a jacket. It all rubbed Arizona the wrong way.

She shrugged it off. No, she was _over_ Callie, and Callie was over her (clearly.) 

But she _did_ take note to the fact that the turtleneck was never taken off, despite Callie clearly being too warm for it.


	2. Chapter 2

It had been a week since Callie first arrived to work donning a turtleneck. Arizona hated that she knew how long it had been, but she couldn’t help it. Callie was wearing a turtleneck everyday for a week and the temperature was only rising. Arizona knew that as every day that passed Callie was finding it more unbearable to tote a turtleneck with the heat. 

Arizona was checking her patient's stats when she heard the sound of vomiting just outside her patients room. 

“Oh shoot…” She could hear Callie murmur, before she suddenly whisked past Arizona, vomit dripping from her scrubs and sleeves. 

She glanced from Callies retreating figure to the tiny human that had produced the bile. She flashed the little human a comforting, pitiful smile before jogging after Calliope Torres.

“Calliope?” She pushed the door open to the attendings lounge. 

The room was empty, but she could hear noises from the bathroom that sat in the corner of the lounge. The door was cracked open.

“Callie?” Arizona knocked, waiting a moment before opening the door.

“Don’t come in her-” 

Callies eyes widened, her ex-wife stood before her. 

“Uhm… Do you need something?” Callie murmured irritably

_“Calliope-”_

“What-” Callie glanced down. Realizing the bruises that blossomed up and down her arms and neck were open to the world to see. Open for _her_ to see. 

They stared at each other momentarily. Neither sure of what to say next.

“What happened?” 

“Oh… You know how rough Sofia gets with her toys. She was just playing and she hit me by accident a few times. No biggie.” 

“Those bruises could _not_ have been made by our four year old daughter.”

She was met with silence.

 _“I don't know why you seem to care so much, Arizona.”_ Callie said in a hushed tone, nearly ashamed. 

Arizona scoffed, taking two steps forward, grabbing Callie by the wrists. 

“Tell me the truth Calliope.” 

“It’s _none_ of your business. Arizona we broke up, you aren’t entitled to my personal life.” 

“We still have a _daughter_ together Calliope.”

“Just- Just go away.”

“You know it’s just going to get warmer and warmer? You can’t keep wearing those turtlenecks when summer is approaching.”

“Yeah well… The bruises will fade by then.”

“Not if she makes new ones.”

Callie looked up abruptly. Her eyes locked with Arizonas and for a moment it felt like they were still together. It felt like it was all okay. It made Arizona want to kiss her, but the bruises that lined her neck remind her she was dating… _her._

“She won’t.”

“She already did. Those bruises are all healing at different rates. Callie how many times has she done this to you?” Arizona's eyes softened, her grip around Callies wrists weakened.

“She… She said she’d stop after the last time… She always apologizes and I know she means it. Arizona I swear she loves me.” Callie's voice got quieter and quieter, weaker and weaker. She sounded like she was giving up. 

“How many times did she tell you she’d stop Calliope?”

 _“Seven.”_ Callies voice was hushed and broken. Her eyes were glazed over and staring at the tile flooring. 

Arizona's stomach lurched. 

Seven? 

She had done this to Callie seven times?

“Callie why are you still with her?”

“Arizona don’t- Don’t you understand? She told me she’d stop. She- She’s going to stop. I know it.” Callie said, almost to herself. Almost as if she was trying to convince herself what she was saying was true 

“Callie…” Arizona reached out for her palm but was met with Callies hand flinching away.

“I-I have to go check on my patients.” Callie pulled her turtleneck back over her bruises. Concealing them from the world. It was one big act. A lie to the whole world. The turtleneck was coating fatal secrets.


End file.
